CFA ignored Fiskville warnings for more than three decades, inquiry finds

UPDATE: THE Baillieu Government has welcomed findings of the CFA report into contamination at Fiskville after a six-month investigation.

Stephen Drill, Ruth Lamperd

HeraldSunJuly 12, 20123:14pm

Fiskville key questionsSource:Herald Sun

UPDATE: THE Baillieu Government has welcomed findings of the CFA report into contamination at Fiskville.

Acting Premier Peter Ryan said today the report, which follows a six-month probe after revelations in the Herald Sun last December, proved that: "The primacy of life, as ever, is an utter priority."

"We need to make sure therefore that people who in any way, shape or form may have been impacted by the events at Fiskville in that period through from 71 until 99, that their health concerns are met and are accommodated as best as that can possible be done."

Despite firefighters wanting Fiskville shut down, Mr Ryan said the site would continue to operate with WorkSafe declaring the facility safe.

But he had asked the CFA and Environmental Protection Authority to continually assess the safety of the site.

Mr Ryan also revealed the State Government was reviewing legislation that would see Victorian firefighters paid the same amount of compensation currently awarded to their federal counterparts.

"The major issue for us is looking after the people that might have been impacted by these events but it is an issue under condideration," he said.

Asked if compensation payments made to Fiskville victims could push up insurance premiums of affect the Fire Services Levy Mr Ryan said: "I don’t anticipate that we will have those sorts of impacts occur.

"The CFA has already indicated it’s made intial provisions in this regard.

"And so far as the FSL is concerned I don’t see that as a related matter."

Earlier today, the former Country Fire Authority chief who blew the whistle on the Fiskville contamination scandal says the organisation's confession is a "vindication".

The CFA has admitted for the first time that it exposed firefighters to hazardous chemicals at the Fiskville training base in northwest Victoria. It will now consider offering victims compensation.

A report prompted by a suspected cancer cluster found the CFA ignored warnings about using dangerous chemicals as a cheap fuel for training burns.

Brian Potter, who worked at Fiskville and is dying from cancer, said other training grounds across Australia would now come under close scrutiny.

“I am pleased that the authorities have responded so positively to the findings,” the former CFA chief said.

“It’s been such a torturous process but the result enables us to proceed to make changes to other institutions like Fiskville and make sure they are properly protected as a result of this.

“It’s been stressful for all of us and some are going through an enormous battle with cancers.”

He said the findings were also "justice" for his colleagues who had passed away before they were able to give evidence to the investigators.

But despite the six-month, $4 million independent inquiry, the 162-page report, obtained by the Herald Sun, says the truth about what happened at Fiskville will never fully be known.

The report criticised the paramilitary "can-do" culture, which disregarded firefighters' health and safety in the 1970s and '80s.

The attitude towards the chemicals was so reckless, Fiskville staff nicknamed a tanker that delivered drums of industrial waste to the site as a "muck truck".

The report has come after a six-month investigation by the Herald Sun.

CFA chief executive Mick Bourke said the report "turned his guts" and management had shed tears about the scandal.

But he never considered resigning. The Herald Sun can also reveal:

THE CFA will monitor the health of up to 250 people at high or medium risk of chemical exposure.

ONE of the three people at high risk of chemical exposure has contracted cancer in recent months.

ELECTRICAL transformers laced with unacceptably high levels of banned PCB chemicals were removed from Fiskville only on May 30.

A YEAR-long medical study will look at whether chemicals burned at Fiskville caused a cancer cluster.

The CFA has accepted the report and set aside $5 million to respond to its recommendations. But it has refused to close Fiskville, saying a college on a greenfield site would cost at least $200 million.

Fiskville findingsSource:Herald Sun

Fiskville key questionsSource:Herald Sun

Victims' speak

Trevor Coulthard, who regularly trained at Fiskville and now has mouth cancer that has recently spread to his back and throat, said no amount of money would bring his health back.

“I’m very happy that the CFA has accepted liability - that’s all I ever wanted,” Mr Coulthard said.

“I have been going through hell with my cancer and not only do I have cancer but it’s all the other side effects - I can hardly talk properly and spend so much time in hospitals getting radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

“The most important thing for me, from day one, has been that the CFA accepts liability and I always wanted the truth to come out and that has now happened.”

Former Fiskville instructor Alan Bennett, who is also ill, said it was a measure of comfort that the truth was now known but the matter should have been resolved 25 years ago.

He said the finding were not a surprise because it was known when authorities were alerted to the issues decades ago.

“I regret it has taken so long to come out,” he said.

“It’s been distressing to see people I have admired suffer through this. If the truth had come out earlier lives could’ve been saved as well as a lot of heartache.”

“It doesn’t change anything, I’ve lost my husband and every day is a struggle,” she said.

Time to act

United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall said the report was a “damning indictment on the CFA”.

“This is the most significant issue fire services in Australia has ever faced. I do not think there has been an issue which goes directly to the heart of corruption more so than Fiskville,” he said.

“How many times has this organisation found to be negligent when it comes to the safety of firefighters whether they’re volunteer or career?

“There is an urgency about this matter as some people who have come forward might not have long to live. There doesn’t need to be a talk fest, there needs to be action right now.”

He said the report answered questions but raised more pressing issues, such as the CFA members at the highest level who had the knowledge of the risky chemicals but decided to leave its members in the dark.

“There needs to be a further examination and those found responsible need to be held accountable,” he said.

He called on the State Government to move with haste and approve laws replicating one Federal Parliament passed last year that recognises certain cancers in firefighters are work related.

“It’s not good enough for the CFA to say it may consider compensation. If it was left to the CFA, victims wouldn’t be looked after,” he said.

“Currently injured firefighters in this state are thrown on the scrap heap without medical or financial assistance when diagnosed with cancers linked to the toxic materials they have been exposed to, whether in training at Fiskville or daily thereafter at every job they attend,” he said.

“When firefighters are called to a house fire they’re exposed to a toxic soup. Over the course of a 20 to 30 year career the exposure would be great. Every fire-fighter should be checked (for cancer).”

He labelled the CFA’s refusal to abandon the Fiskville, which it states as “integral” to its training, as “disgraceful”.

“It’s contaminated and there’s been cover up after cover up. If they’re suggesting its cost is too great to close, they’re putting a cost on life,” he said.

He said the CFA should also foot the bill for all future medical costs for victims and their families.

Mr Marshall suggested Mr Potter should receive accolades for his bravery in exposing the crisis and his family should receive on-going support.

“It has taken a former chief to come out and virtually drag it the organisation he loves dearly into the accountability of the public to expose what went on. It must have been a very hard thing for him to do,” Mr Marshall said.

CEO 'felt disgusted'

The Fiskville: Understanding the Past to Inform the Future report, compiled by Prof Robert Joy, interviewed 324 people and reviewed 8000 documents about the storage and use of chemicals at Fiskville between 1971-99.

The report says 87,000 people, including CFA volunteers, MFB recruits and families on site, used the college in those years.

But it found that the exposure levels of most of the people who used Fiskville were likely to be "low" to "negligible" risk.

It also found the CFA had ignored concerns from staff as far back as 1980 and had shelved a 1988 report that found at least two cancer-causing chemicals were stored and used on site.

The report says because there was a lack of documentation about the chemicals stored, it was unable to provide the full facts.

"The historical risks to staff and the environment at Fiskville associated with the use of flammable materials in training will never be fully known," it says.

The chemicals dumped there up until the mid-'90s came from 40 businesses, including Alcoa, Dulux, ICI, Monsanto and Shell.

Mr Bourke said yesterday he was saddened by the report. "It turned my guts when I read the management chapter," he said.

"It upset me greatly.

"I felt disgusted and disappointed there were opportunities to have done things that weren't taken."

He accepted responsibility for past failures but did not blame previous management.

" I don't think anyone wakes up in the morning with the desire to intentionally harm, or unintentionally harm, its people," he said.

The CFA would consider compensation for victims "at some point".

He expected CFA volunteers to judge him on how he dealt with the crisis, and he said people exposed to chemicals at Fiskville had a right to be angry.

"Yes they do, but more so in the late '80s and into the '90s than in the 1970s," he said.

Volunteer firefighters 'won't be deterred'

Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria chief executive Andrew Ford said the report labelled the 1970s to 80s era at Fiskville as “a black spot in the history of Victoria”.

“The report has looked at the history, but not the current practices of the CFA which need to be looked at as a matter of urgency,” he said.

He said while health checks for concerned firefighters were vital, it should not cloud the need for the State Government to introduce presumptive legislation already adopted at a federal level which would also encompass volunteer firefighters.

”Introducing the legislation to reverse the onus (from firefighters) is the next step. It’s time the dark day became a catalyst to correct today and tomorrow," he said.

“The water used at the current Fiskville training site and how there are further potential risks with the treatment of the water also needs to be addressed.”

Despite the report's findings, Mr Ford said he did not believe aspiring firefighters would be deterred from joining the profession.

Medical checks

Head of Monash University’s School of Public Health and Prevention Medicine Professor John McNeil said preliminary discussions were underway with the CFA for medical checks on more than 250 firefighters who have expressed health concerns.

“We’ve got a meeting coming up (with the CFA) within the next week where we’re going to explore what we can do,” Prof McNeil said.

“We understand the CFA are currently looking at exposure records and how many people are likely to have been exposed.

“It’s unclear exactly how many people are involved and exactly how many records there are.

“At the moment it’s a little bit preliminary, but it’s focused on quantifying the risk involved.”